Time after time
by GuitarGURL16
Summary: When Derek and Casey enter a parallel universe after falling off the roof they are forced to work together to fix what is broken in la la land while their actual bodies lie in a coma on Christmas eve.
1. Chapter 1

**Time after Time** by Cyndi Lauper

_Lying in my bead I hear the clock tick_

_And think of you_

_Caught up in circles_

_Confusion is nothing new_

_Flashbacks-warm nights-_

_Almost left behind_

_Suitcases of memories_

_Time after-_

_Sometimes you picture me_

_I'm walking to far ahead_

_You're calling to me_

_I can't hear what you said-_

_Then you say- go slow-_

_I fall behind-_

_The second hand unwinds- _

_Chorus:_

_If you're lost you can look_

_And you will find me_

_Time after time_

_If you fall I will catch you_

_I'll be waiting_

_Time after time_

**Time after time**

**By: GuitarGurl**

Casey untangled the lights and occasionally looked up at Derek to see if he was putting them up right. "Derek, those lights are too bunched up."

Derek rolled his eyes, "They are not Ms. OCD."

Casey rolled her eyes too and continued untangling the lights. She didn't know why her mom and George wanted Casey and Derek to put up the lights when they knew they couldn't get along. Derek wanted to hurry up and get off the roof so he could watch his show, and Casey just wanted to get done so she could meet Max.

Casey looked up at Derek again "Derek their crooked!"

Derek mimicked her "Derek!"

Casey couldn't take it anymore, "That's it, I'm doing it!" Casey climbed up the ladder to the roof where Derek was. "Give me the lights." she grabbed one end of them and tried to yank them away from Derek.

"No, go back and untangle!" said Derek pulling the other end.

"Derek!"

Derek mimicked her again "DEREK!"

They continued pulling on the strand of lights until Casey leaned backward and fell off the roof while Derek tried to catch her and pull her back but he just fell too. They landed on the grass which was good since that meant they weren't bleeding profusely but they were now unconscious.

They lay on the ground for about a minute then Derek slowly opened his eyes and looked over at Casey who had fallen right beside him. "Casey? Are you ok?"

Casey slowly her eyes and looked at Derek, "What happened?" she murmured.

Derek started getting up "We fell, I think."

Casey got up to then remember what had happened and snapped at Derek "Well, if you had given me the stupid Christmas lights then we wouldn't have fallen!"

Derek stood up completely "If you had stopped trying to control everything then maybe I wouldn't have had to pull the lights away causing us to fall!"

"You're such a child!" yelled Casey

"You're such a priss!" yelled Derek

Casey looked at him angrily "Fine, then put up the lights yourself, I'm going upstairs to get ready to go out with Max."

"Fine!" Derek yelled

"Fine!"

Casey walked in the house then stopped in her tracks. "Derek!" she said

"What now?" Derek walked in behind her and also stopped in his steps. "Whoa."

Derek and Casey looked around and saw a perfectly tidy house with antique furniture and beautiful paintings. "This isn't our house." said Casey. "MOM!" she yelled out.

Suddenly Nora walked out of the kitchen with an earpiece in her ear and typing away on her black berry. "Yes, I know Olivia it is going to be torture to see Sebastian but you simply must come to the party darling." Nora looked up at Derek and Casey "Olivia I have to go it's the caterers." she hung up the phone and put down her black berry and stuck out her hand "Hi I'm Nora McDonald you must be the caterers."

Casey and Derek looked at her then at each other then back again. Casey and Derek laughed a little "Funny Nora, real funny." said Derek.

Nora put her hand down and looked at them puzzled "What's so funny? I'm sorry, are you 2 from the catering business?"

"Mom, stop it, it's Casey and Derek…your daughter and step son?"

Nora was about to answer but her cell phone rang. "One moment please." she answered her phone. "Charlotte? Hi, listen I have to strange people here who are claiming to be my children." she walked in the kitchen leaving Casey and Derek standing in the living room puzzled.

"What's with Nora?" asked Derek

"I don't know, I'm going upstairs so I can ready for my date with Max." Casey walked up the stairs but stopped when she saw the family portrait by the stairs. "Derek…"

"What?" Derek ran up the stairs and looked at the portrait in shock. "What the…?"

They looked at the portrait which only contained Nora, Mr. McDonald, and Lizzie. There was no Edwin, Casey, Derek, or Marti.

"Derek, something is really wrong here." Casey began to panic then she heard Nora say "Ok, I'll be sure to do that. Talk to you later." Casey turned to Derek "We have to get out of here!" Casey grabbed Derek's arm and pulled him out the door.

Derek pulled his arm from Casey's grasp "Ok, let me go." He took one last look at the house. "What's going on?"

"I don't know. Everything's different, it's all backwards." Casey rubbed her head and felt a bump which probably got there from the fall. "When did this start happening?"

Derek thought which was a bit of a stretch for him. "Wait, this all happened after we fell from the roof." Derek thought some more. "What if we're delirious or something? Maybe this is all a dream."

"A dream? A dream to what, a parallel universe where my mom talks on the phone way to much and I was never born, and she never married George?"

Derek nodded "I think so."

Casey looked at Derek like he was insane "Ok, you've really lost it." Casey kept walking

Derek stopped her "No, listen. Maybe we did enter some kind of parallel universe or something. It's just like this movie I saw."

"What movie was that? When a perfectly normal girl gets trapped in another world with a complete idiot?"

Derek rolled his eyes "Casey, I really think-"

"Stop!" she interrupted "That's just it, you don't think. You know how crazy you sound?" asked Casey. "I'm going to Smelly Nelly's to meet Max and you can try to find a way out of this 'parallel universe'." Casey walked away still thinking Derek was really crazy.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: **

Casey walked into Nelly's and looked around for Max. Sure enough, he was sitting at a table looking like he was waiting for someone.

Casey smiled; she knew Derek was just being ridiculous. She walked over to Max and kissed him on the cheek. "Hey Max." she sat across from him and smiled sweetly.

Max looked at her extremely confused "Do I know you?"

Casey giggled "Ha ha very funny."

Max continued to look at her the same way which told her he wasn't joking. "Max, it's me Casey. Your girlfriend?"

Max chuckled a little "I'm sorry I already have a girlfriend."

Casey looked surprised "What are you talking about?"

Before Max could answer someone came up behind Casey and cleared their voice in a "Excuse me" manner. Casey turned around and her surprised face turned to utter shock. "Um, sorry but that's my seat."

Casey tried to get her words out, but they seemed to be stuck but she finally got them out. "Kendra?" Casey turned back and looked at Max "This is your girlfriend?"

Max smiled at Kendra "Yup, my one and only." then he got up and kissed Kendra right in front of Casey.

Casey's jaw dropped and she nearly cried but she held her tears back and said to herself "What if Derek was right?" Casey got up and walked out of the restaurant. "I have to find Derek." then she ran as fast as she could to find Derek.

**_(Meanwhile): _**

Derek walked to the only other place that might make sense to him: Sam's house. Derek knocked on the door but there was no answer so he knocked again. Finally Sam's mom answered the door.

"Can I help you?" she asked politely

"Uh yeah, I'm looking for Sam."

Sam's mom's face soon turned from sweet to completely stricken with sadness. She looked like she wanted to cry. "You knew my son?" she asked

"Uh…yeah, he's my best fri…wait…knew?"

Sam's mom soon had tears running down her cheeks and her eyeliner was running as well. "He died last year. It was suicide."

Derek's heart sunk and he felt like crying too but he pulled himself together. "Died?"

Sam's mom continued crying but this time she was crying even harder "I'm sorry but I have a chicken in the oven so I better get back to that." then she shut the door still crying.

Derek couldn't believe this was happening. It was liked everything that mattered to him was nonexistent. It was too much for him so he cried, but with only a single tear streaming down his face.

"I have to find Casey so we can get out of here." then he also ran down the street in search of Casey.

**_(Meanwhile): _**

Casey was still looking for Derek. She didn't really know where to look so she decided to look in the obvious places. She started at the hockey rink. Casey looked around the ice rink watching all the guys play hockey. That's when she saw him skating on the ice rink playing hockey. "DEREK!" she shouted out. "DEREK!" but he didn't turn around. "DEREK VENTURI!" then he turned around and skated towards her. Casey smiled "There you are I've been-"

She wasn't able to finish her sentence because when he pulled off his hockey mask it wasn't Derek. "Edwin?"

Edwin smiled flirtatiously "Hey, Edwin Venturi." Casey looked so confused.

It was Edwin alright, but an older Edwin. A, in a really creepy way, hotter Edwin "You can't be Edwin." said Casey shaking her head. "I mean, how old are you anyways?"

"I'm 17, almost 18."

Casey thought, if this was in fact another universe where Casey and Derek don't exist then that means they were never born. And if they were never born then that means Edwin and Lizzie were the first born children.

"Edwin…you look…different."

Edwin smiled at her flirtingly again "And you look…" then he purred like a cat causing Casey to nearly throw up. Edwin was the new Derek but a grosser flirtier Derek.

"Um, I have to go."

"Ok." Edwin started skating back to the hockey team but not before shooting Casey a "call me" sign.

Casey was repulsed so she decided to search elsewhere for Derek, because "new Derek" was really cheesy. "Where are you Derek? Where are you?" she continued walking in search of Derek.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: **

Derek continued searching for Casey but to no avail. He finally got tired and sat down on a bench in the mall (where he stopped his search). Derek was loosing hope, how was he supposed to find Casey when he wasn't even certain as to where he was.

"I'm never going to get out of here." he slouched and crossed his arms in irritation and disappointment.

"Derek?" he heard someone call out. "Derek!"

Derek stood up and turned around to see none other then Casey. "Casey!"

Casey ran up to him and threw her arms around him. "I found you." Derek was so happy to see Casey that he threw his arms around her and embraced her tightly.

"You don't know how happy I am to see you."

"I think I do." Casey smiled. The hug lasted longer then it should've but they did eventually pull away. "You'll never believe what I saw."

"What?" asked Derek

"Edwin, playing hockey!"

"What?!"

Casey nodded "And he's become a big girl crazy robot who flirts more then you!"

Derek was dismayed but he knew he had bigger news then Edwin's new found confidence in la la land. "I found out something too." Derek's happy face fell again.

"What? What happened?"

"Sam…" he had a hard time saying. "Sam is dead. He committed suicide a year ago."

Casey's face fell too and she sat down on the bench sense she had a hard time processing what Derek just said. "Suicide?"

Derek nodded then sat beside her, "I have no clue why either."

"Well, back in our world you and Sam did everything together. You 2 were best friends; you made him cool."

"So?"

"Without you Sam was probably lonely and depressed, and then he killed himself."

"That makes no sense."

Casey looked at Derek "Think about it Derek, everything's backwards here. Sam was happy in our world, so that means here he was depressed which is why he's dead now."

Derek thought about it and knew she was right. He was about to say something until he looked up and saw something which caused him to stand right back up. "Casey." he tapped on her.

"What?" Casey looked up too then she saw what Derek saw. "Oh my" she said.

"It's…"

"George" said Casey looking up at a hug banner that said "Vote Venturi for Mayor" and had a picture of George smiling. "Wow, your dad is mayor."

"My dad is mayor." Derek chuckled "Now I _know_ we're not in Canada anymore."

"Well if everyone we've met today forgot us maybe your dad will remember us."

"And how do you figure that?"

Casey shrugged "It's worth a shot. And maybe we'll get some more answers about getting home. Speaking of which, that you movie you saw?"

"Yeah?"

"How did it end?"

"Oh, they got back by fixing what was broken in the parallel world."

"Fixing what was broken?"

Derek nodded

"Derek, everything is broken!"

"I know, but if we want to get home I think that's what we need to do."

Casey thought that was crazy, but they're whole current predicament was crazy so what would it be without a crazy solution? "So, on to Mayor Venturi's house?"

Derek smiled "On to Mayor Venturi's house."

Then they both walked out of the mall and headed to George's office to see what this world had done to George and Marti.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: **

Derek and Casey eventually found George's house which was 4 times bigger then his old house (or Nora's house now). Derek rang the doorbell.

"Derek, maybe this wasn't such a good idea." said Casey looking a little worried.

"Why not? He's just mayor, he's not a god or anything."

Suddenly a short older looking lady answered the door. "Can I help you?" she had a little accent almost Swedish but Casey and Derek weren't too sure.

"Yes, we're here to see Mayor Venturi."

"Are you here to pick up the packages?"

Derek looked confused but still said "Yes we are, we're from FedEx."

The lady, who was obviously the maid, looked them both up and down suspiciously. "Where are your uniforms?"

Just as Derek was about to coat his lie with another lie someone called out for the maid "Silvia!!!" said the voice which sounded like a woman's voice.

The maid rolled her eyes "Just wait right there." then moved her short legs at a pretty fast pace up the stairs and down the hallway.

Derek made sure she was really gone then opened the door a little bit more. He looked around then said "Casey, it's all clear. Let's go." he started walking in but Casey stopped him.

"No! Why do we even need to go in?"

"Because it's obvious this lady doesn't believe us, so we'll just have to sneak in. Now come on." he grabbed her arm and lead her in the house then closed the door behind him.

"Derek this is breaking and entering."

"We didn't technically break in, we were sort of invited." he looked around and smiled "Wow, dad is really doing well for himself."

Suddenly they heard someone come down the stairs but before they could hide the person already saw them "Hey!" they shouted. "What are you 2 doing in here."

Derek and Casey thought it was the maid but it wasn't, it was a girl who looked to be about 13 or 14. She was wearing a super short skirt and shirt. She was also smoking a cigarette and her hair was died blue and black. "I said what are you 2 doing in here?" she asked again.

"We're hear to see the Mayor." said Casey

The girl walked closer to them then blew smoke in their face. "Daddy? He's upstairs."

Derek looked at the girl then noticed something about her face and her sweet innocent looking eyes. He nearly fainted when he realized who it was "Marti?"

The girl looked up at them then took the cigarette out of her mouth. "That's my name." she looked down at her watch "I have to go, I'm going back to my mom's." she started walking out the door.

"Abby?" asked Casey "Why you going there?"

Marti blew another cloud of smoke. "I live there." then she left slamming the door behind her.

Derek and Casey were still baffled by what just happened. The sweet innocent Marti who loved cartoons and her monkey Sir Monks a lot and once advised Casey to eat more spaghetti had turned into a smoker who wore skimpy outfits and smelled like alcohol.

"That is something I never want to see again." said Derek

"Same here." agreed Casey.

Derek snapped out of it then remembered why they were there. "So, she said dad was upstairs. Let's go!" he grabbed Casey's hand and started going upstairs but stopped when Casey didn't walk with him. "Come on!" he said impatiently.

"No! I don't want to see anything weirder then what I just saw. Let's just leave before someone else sees us and calls the cops."

"Will you just come on?" Derek was getting a little agitated.

"No!"

"Casey," Derek chuckled "one way or another I am going to get you up these steps."

Casey crossed her arms "No."

Derek chuckled again, then he picked Casey up over his shoulder and carried her upstairs. "Come on Casey."

"Derek! Put me down! Put me down now!" objected Casey.

Derek carried her like she weighed as much as little Marti did. She continued to kick and beat Derek on the back but he kept walking up the stairs. "Come on Casey, we're almost there."

They got up the stairs and could see George's office not to far away. Derek carried Casey to the office then put her down when they reached the door. "You actually carried me!" Casey said angrily.

Derek rolled his eyes "At least I got you up here. Now let's go." he knocked on the office door.

George swung it open. "What? What do you want?" he asked them like he was in a hurry.

"We wanted to talk to you."

"Are you Edwin's friends? If you see him tell his he needs to get home now for his piano lesson." then before anyone could say anything more George slammed the door and went back to work.

"Well, that was no help. Now, all we know is Edwin plays piano and Marti is a cigarette smoking prostitute!"

Derek wasn't looking at Casey but he was looking at a photo that was sitting on a little table. "That's not all we found."

"What?" asked Casey then she looked at the picture and saw George with Edwin, Marti, and a woman who wasn't Abby and wasn't Nora. "Who's that?"

Derek looked at the picture "Maybe another wife?"

Casey looked at the picture but something about that woman didn't seem like the wife type. She looked more like a girlfriend. "I don't think that's his wife Derek, she doesn't have the wife vibe you know?"

Derek looked at her "No, I can honestly say I don't know."

Casey rolled her eyes, then she saw the exact same lady downstairs talking on a cell phone. "There she is!" Casey and Derek ran back down all those stairs and walked up to the woman. "Excuse me?" asked Casey.

"Yes?" asked the woman "Who are you?"

"We're reporters, we're doing a story on your husband." said Derek

"Husband?"

"Boyfriend!" Casey corrected quickly "Told ya" she then whispered to Derek.

"Oh, alright well me and George are really busy right now but you can continue this interview at the party tonight." she handed Casey an invitation.

"Katie! Can you come here?" yelled George from his office.

"Coming George!" yelled the woman. "I've got to go." then she quickly ran upstairs.

Derek and Casey looked at the invitation which said the party was at 8 at the Luna Hotel. "Looks like we have a party to go to." said Derek

Casey groaned "Joy"


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: **

Nora and George sat in the hospital to see if Casey or Derek would wake up. It had been a few hours but still nothing. Nora was getting anxious and George was too. Lizzie and Edwin agreed to wait outside with Marti; Nora and George didn't want her to see her brother and stepsister like this.

"It's been hours George, I'm worried."

"I know Nora." George got out of his chair which was beside Casey and walked over to Nora who was sitting by Derek. "The doctor said all we can do it wait for them to wake up." Nora was about to cry but she was strong and held it in.

"I know, but I'm just…" she gave in and cried "I'm really scared George. I'm really scared." George put his arms around Nora.

"They're going to be fine." he looked at Casey and Derek who were out cold. "In the mean time," George grabbed a magazine and handed it to Nora. "try reading to them, maybe a familiar voice will wake them up."

Nora smiled at George's attempt to give Nora hope, if only it would work. Nora opened the magazine and read an article out of it.

**_(Meanwhile): _**

Lizzie, Edwin, and Marti sat outside and waited for Casey and Derek to awake. Marti was getting antsy. She was wiggling, pouting, and groaning each minute that passed by. Lizzie was getting so frustrated with her and so was Edwin, but they didn't want to snap at her. If they were both still 6 years old they would be wanting to get out of a boring OR waiting room.

"This is so boring!" said Marti getting up from her chair and walking over to Edwin and Lizzie.

"I know Marti, but you need to be patient."

"Why have we been here for so long?" Marti continued to complain.

"We told you Marti, Derek and Casey aren't doing to well." said Edwin.

"Well why don't they just give them a shot and a lollipop so we can go home." Marti plopped down on a chair and pouted.

Lizzie looked at her then said "Marti, Derek and Casey…Derek and Casey got hurt really bad and their not waking up."

Marti looked a little bit confused "Are they asleep?"

Edwin interrupted "Yeah, sort of. Their taking a big long nap."

Marti smiled a little bit then she walked up to the nurse. "Excuse me" she said politely to her. "When are Casey and Derek waking up?"

The nurse smiled a little bit then kneeled down so she was at eye level with Marti. "They should wake up anytime, after they finish everything they need to finish." the nurse winked and Marti smiled then walked back to the waiting area.

Marti sat down and her chair and looked at Lizzie and Edwin, "They'll be up soon, just as soon as they finish what they need to do." she smiled sweetly then picked up a children's book from the table.

Lizzie and Edwin looked at each other puzzled then looked back at Marti who wasn't even pouting or groaning.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: **

Casey and Derek got into the party by saying they were caterers. They walked into the ballroom were the party was being held and were astounded at how beautifully decorated it was.

"Wow, who did all this?" asked Casey

"That would be me." said a voice coming up behind them. It was Nora smiling sweetly and holding a glass of champagne. "Hey, don't I know you 2 from somewhere?" she looked at both Casey and Derek then it hit her. "Oh yes, you 2 came to my house as the caterers…?"

"Oh, no that wasn't us." said Derek

Nora thought again. "Hm, guess I've had one to many of these." she was referring to the glass of champagne in her hand. "Well, you 2 enjoy yourself." she took a sip of champagne.

"Thank you, actually, we were looking for the mayor. Do you know if he's here yet?" asked Casey

Nora's face soon looked angry and sad. She grasped her champagne glass in her hand harder which made Casey and Derek afraid she would break it and shards of glass would go flying. "He's here, he's getting a drink."

Derek and Casey were puzzled "Is everything ok?" Derek asked

"Oh yeah, everything's fine. Well, if you'll both excuse me I have to go mingle with the other guests." then Nora was off, putting that fake smile on her face so no one would see the anger Casey and Derek unintentionally brought up.

"What was that?" asked Derek.

"I have no idea." Casey said shaking her head.

Derek looked around the room then spotted a girl who was wearing a beautiful pink dress that was showing off a little to much of her chest. "Who is that?" asked Derek walking closer to her.

"I don't-" before Casey could finish Derek was off to flirt with her. "Derek! Come back here." Casey went after him.

"Hi" said Derek

The girl turned around and smiled at Derek "Hello. Do I know you?"

"Derek. And you are?" Derek smiled flirtatiously at her.

She smiled back "I'm Elizabeth, or Lizzie is what everyone calls me."

Derek's face soon looked like he was about to puke. "Lizzie McDonald?"

Lizzie nodded "That's me, the daughter of the woman who's getting the award tonight."

Derek knew he was going to puke; he had just hit on his younger step sib. Casey finally caught Derek.

"Derek, you're flirting at a time like this?!" Casey was mad but then saw the look on Derek's face. "Are you alright?" Casey looked at the girl he was looking at. "Um, hi." she put her hand out "I'm Casey."

"Lizzie McDonald." Lizzie shook her hand and smiled.

Casey looked sick to but then she started to laugh hysterically. She looked at Derek "You flirted with Lizzie?" she laughed even harder and Derek looked at her angrily. "That's priceless!" Casey kept laughing until Lizzie interrupted her.

"Um, is Derek you're boyfriend?"

Casey chocked on her laugh causing her to cough. Derek looked at her and smiled a little smug smile. "Casey, I believe Lizzie asked you a question." Derek looked like he was going to laugh too but he held it in.

"Uh…yeah. This is my" Casey gulped "boyfriend."

"Oh, well you 2 are very cute together."

Derek put his arm around Casey and smiled "So we've been told." Casey tried to hide her disgust with a smile.

"So, you're mom is getting an award tonight? For what?"

"Oh, she's interior designer of the year. But she almost turned them down."

"Why?" asked Casey

"Well…she doesn't really like to talk about it but, she designed the mayor's home and did a great job on it. Then he asked her out and they began dating."

"I thought she was married." said Derek

"She's in the middle of a divorce so she was technically on the market again. Anyway, her and the mayor were doing pretty good then along comes this other girl who is supposed to be his new assistant or something, but my mom suspected something. So one day after work she 'surprised' the mayor by showing up at his house and there she found him and his assistant on the dining room table."

"The table?" asked Derek slightly mortified now that he had a disturbing mental picture of his dad and a woman on a dining room table.

"Yeah, so now my mom hates him but she's supposed to be taking the award from him tonight."

"Oh boy…" said Casey. She looked in the direction of the door and saw George walk in with his mistress Katie. "Derek, the guests of honor are here." Derek looked too and saw his dad and his new girlfriend shaking hands and taking pictures.

"Excuse us Lizzie, we have to go talk to someone." said Derek

"Alright, it was nice meeting you both."

Derek and Casey made their way over to the mayor but a reporter got there first. "Mr. Mayor, I would love to get a picture of you dancing with Nora. It would be nice to see the winner of the interior designer of the year award and the mayor."

George put on a fake smile like he had been doing with all the other reporters. "Sure" he said.

"Great. Let me go get her."

The reporter was off to find Nora and that gave Casey and Derek the opportunity to talk to the mayor. But again, they were interrupted by another reporter wanting to take pictures.

"Ugh, this is hopeless. How are we supposed to talk to him?" Casey crossed her arms.

"Here she is!" said the reporter directing Nora to George.

"Hello Nora" said George smiling genuinely

"Hi George." said Nora not showing any expression of happiness.

"We're supposed to dance, for the pictures."

Nora nodded "Let's get it over with."

Nora and George began to dance to a slow song. You could tell it was a little awkward but they played it up for the cameras.

"We have to dance." said Derek randomly

"What?" asked Casey

"So we can get closer to Nora and dad and maybe hear what their talking about. It's the only way we can know how they feel about each other at this point."

"Forget it, I'm not doing it."

Suddenly, someone bumped into Casey from behind and she fell into Derek who caught her before she hit the floor. "Whoa" said Derek.

Casey looked up at Derek who was now only an inch away from her face. They didn't say a word; they just stared for a second until they both snapped back into it.

Casey brushed herself off "Well…let's dance." Casey grabbed Derek's hand and led him to the dance floor.

Derek gently placed his hands on Casey's waist and pulled her closer. Casey loved the way he held on to her. It was perfect: tight enough to feel safe but not so tight to were she was going to suffocate. They both got closer to Nora and George to see what they were saying.

They weren't talking at first, and then George broke the ice. "Are we still not talking?"

"I'm not talking to you." snapped Nora.

"Come on Nora, you're acting like a teenager."

Nora chuckled "Right, because cheating on me with your 20 something assistant was much more mature."

"Nora, I apologized time and time again."

"Well time and time again won't change what happened."

George felt terrible but he kept on going "Can you honestly say that you don't still care about me?"

Nora looked at George and was about to say something but then she stopped herself. "I can't do this with you George. Not tonight, tonight is my night." then she walked away leaving George standing in the middle of the dance floor.

"Casey, they stopped dancing."

Casey wasn't listening because at that moment she had her head resting on Derek's shoulder and was breathing in his cologne. She was lost in his arms.

Derek looked at Casey and smiled then he held her a little tighter and continued to dance with her.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: **

Casey and Derek had been dancing for about 10 minutes but when it ended it felt like it had only lasted a second. They both wanted to continue holding each other but were interrupted by someone on stage talking into the microphone.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming out tonight to present the award for 'Interior Designer of the Year Award.'" Everyone applauded then the announcer went on. "Please help me greet the guest of honor and mayor of our wonderful city George Venturi." Everyone applauded again and George walked onstage with a fake smile. He kissed the announcer on the cheek and took the stage.

"Thank you everyone for inviting me to present the award for 'Interior Designer of the Year'." He started off. "Now I'm pleased to present this," he held up the award for all to see. "to the best or in my opinion greatest designer in all of Canada and quite possibly the world Nora McDonald."

The people cheered again and Nora walked onstage to receive her award. George attempted to kiss Nora on the cheek but she moved her head and walked right pass him grabbing the award on her way to the podium.

"Thank you everyone for making me your designer of the year. Um, this is such a great honor and I have so many people to thank but the one I really want to thank is my daughter Lizzie who is always there for me, thank you sweetheart."

Casey smiled, she was so happy her mom had won this award even if it was in another universe. "I'm so proud of her."

"Even though in this universe she isn't your mom?"

Casey nodded "Even though she's not my mom."

"That's sweet, but right now we need to get started making things right."

"Your right, we need to- OH MY GOD!" yelled Casey looking at the doorway. "Is that Emily?"

Derek looked in the doorway and saw Emily wearing all black and her makeup looked like a mime's. "Emily is emo. Emoly."

"Very funny Derek" said Casey sarcastically. "We need to fix all this now."

Derek nodded "Ok, you take my dad and I'll take your mom."

"Alright."

Casey and Derek split up and began working on what need to be done. Casey walked up to George who was drinking some champagne. He was talking to someone and laughing at jokes that weren't even funny. "Uh, excuse me Mr. Mayor?"

George turned around and saw Casey. "Hello, can I help you?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact you can. I'm a reporter and I was wondering is maybe I could ask you a few questions?"

George smiled "Sure"

"Ok, are the rumors true about you and Nora McDonald? You supposedly cheated on her with your assistant and current girlfriend?"

George looked angry "Ma'am I don't need to answer these questions about my personal life. As far as I'm concerned that's no one's business." George started to leave but Casey stopped him.

"I know that she might still have feelings for you."

George stopped were he was and turned back to Casey to listen. "Go on…"

"I actually interviewed her earlier today and she said she had the best time designing your house and getting to know you."

"Really?" asked George.

"Uh huh, and she said she should've given you another chance because you were one of her better relationships."

"Nora said all this?"

"Yeah, she did."

George smiled, and for the first time the whole night it was a real smile and not those fake ones that he had been doing all night.

Casey walked away to work on her next person: Emily.

**_(Meanwhile): _**

Derek casually walked to the buffet table and stood next to Nora who was getting some cream puffs. "Congratulations on your award."

Nora turned and smiled at Derek "Thank you."

"Yeah, the mayor also wanted to say he's very thrilled you won this and he's so happy for you and your achievement."

"You know the mayor?"

Derek nodded "I sort of work for him and let me tell ya, he's such a complainer! He goes on and on about some old girlfriend and how he wished he never hurt her and he wished he could take it back, blah, blah, blah."

"He said all that?"

"Yeah, and it's amazing anything gets done around there."

Nora smiled a little then looked back at the buffet table. "Wow" she whispered to herself.

"Oo, crab cakes." Derek grabbed a crab cake and took a bite out of it. "Nice talking to you." he said with a full mouth. Then, Derek was off in search of Marti to fix her problems. It didn't take long for him to find Marti though, since she walked into the party wearing a skimp dress and crashed right into the waiter who was carrying the champagne spilling it everywhere. Marti was drunk and she was making a big scene.

"Watch where you're going!" she said slurring her words. She grabbed a glass of champagne from another waiter and took a huge gulp then spit it out. "This is all you got? This shouldn't even be considered a drink!" she pulled a flask out of her purse and took a big swig.

"This is going to be a challenge." said Derek to himself. Then he put down the crab cake and walked over to Marti and hopefully fix what was broken with her.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: **

Casey walked over to Emily who was sitting at an empty table with a blank stare on her face.

"Hi!" Casey said a little to perky.

Emily looked up then looked away saying nothing.

"So, what brings you to this party?"

Emily completely ignored Casey and said nothing.

"Yeah, me too." Casey laughed nervously. Casey sat in the seat next to Emily and continued smiling. "I'm Casey by the way." Casey held her hand out ready for Emily to shake it.

Emily rolled her eyes and finally said something. "Why are you talking to me?"

"Well, you seem sort of lonely so I thought I'd come over here and say hello."

"Why don't you hang out with your boyfriend?" asked Emily

"Boyfriend?" Casey asked a little puzzled. Emily pointed to Derek who was talking to Marti. "Oh, he's not my boyfriend."

"Oh, I just thought…you guys are really cute together though. And it's obvious he likes you."

"Well Derek-wait…you think he likes me?"

Emily sort of smirked at Casey stupidity. "You don't see the way he looks at you?"

Casey was quiet for a minute to let what was just said be sunken in. "No, I can't say that I do."

"Well, next time your together just look in his eyes and you'll see what I mean. It's like you guys were meant to be." Emily got out of her seat and started walking away.

Casey stopped her "Wait, were are you going?"

"Get a drink, looks like I'm going to need it if I'm supposed to be here all night." then she turned and walked to the bar.

**_(Meanwhile): _**

Derek sat with Marti who was still drunk and giggling at every third word that came out of Derek's mouth. Derek was getting a little frustrated trying to get his younger sister to listen, not like the other world where all he had to say was 'Marti vacuum' and she would stand up and clean any mess Derek had made willingly.

"Marti, are you sure you're alright?"

Marti giggled "I'm super! Hey you want to do me a huge favor?"

"Sure, what?"

"Get me a White Russian, I need more to drink."

Derek just about had it and just snapped "Why do you drink so much? And dress like a slut?"

Marti stopped laughing and looked at Derek angrily "Why do you care? My own father doesn't even care; he just sits in his office all day and works. I haven't had a real conversation with him since I was 7. My dad stopped being a dad when the offer of mayor came to him. He thinks of this stupid city before his own children."

"What?" asked Derek puzzled.

"Did you know that Edwin has been expelled from 2 schools now? He spent the night in jail for joy riding and to top it all off he got some girl pregnant."

Derek's heart fell into his stomach when he heard all the things Edwin had done. Not only had Edwin become Derek, he became worse then Derek.

"He did all that?" Derek nearly started crying seeing his brother and sister like this.

"Yup, all thanks to father of the year!" said Marti. She giggled again at herself then finally she threw up.

Derek got out of the chair quickly before she splashed vomit on him. Derek came around the other side and held Marti's hair back and helped her up. "Someone help."

One of George's assistants took Marti to the bathroom and Derek let out a big sigh.

"Derek." said Casey coming up to him "What happened to Marti?"

"She had one to many drinks and just fell apart."

Casey could see how sad Derek looked at seeing his sister this way. "Derek, are you ok?"

"I will be when we get out of here. I can't take this one more minute."

Casey couldn't take it either. "Wait, I have a plan."

"What?"

"Follow me." Casey grabbed Derek's hand and led him backstage so they couldn't put the plan that would send them home into action.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: **

"This is a dumb idea." said Derek "One of your dumbest, and you say you're the smart one." said Derek

"Look, I know it's not the best but it's the only thing we haven't tried."

"That's not true; we haven't tied them up and force them to change."

Casey rolled her eyes "Just follow my lead."

Casey and Derek each grabbed microphones and walked onstage. "Excuse me everyone!" said Casey in the mic. "Excuse me."

Everyone looked onstage at Casey and Derek puzzled. But before Casey and Derek could put their plan into action George yelled out "Hey, you're the kid who said Nora was still in love with me."

Casey gulped and said under her breathe "Oh boy."

"Yeah, and that's the boy who said George was, wait, what?" Nora blurted out after realizing what George just said. "Still in love with you?"

"That's right" said George crossing his arms.

"Got any more brilliant ideas genius?" asked Derek

"Oh shut up, maybe we can fix this."

"Oh yeah? How?"

"I don't know just let me think." said Casey panicking.

Derek was so frustrated seeing Nora and George argue like two teenagers, Marti drinking and laughing like a hyena, and Emily looking like all she wanted to do was climb back into her coffin. It was all too much for Derek and he finally just popped.

"Everyone shut up!" Derek yelled in the microphone. Instantly everyone shut up and looked at Derek. "We have been running around all night trying to fix you people, and now I see you people are just unfixable!" George and Nora frowned and Marti stopped laughing. "Marti!" Marti looked up at Derek. "You shouldn't be drinking more then your own body weight; you need to get help for your problem. You may love your alcohol but it doesn't love you."

Casey stepped in "And Emily, take off the black stuff and liven up! It's ok to smile and laugh at stupid things."

"Nora, you need to learn to forgive people. Cause if you just push everyone who made a mistake out of your life there won't be anyone left." said Derek.

"And George, you don't like being mayor. You want to be a lawyer again, were you don't have to put on a fake smile all the time and have time to spend with your kids. You have a beautiful daughter who needs you and a son who's…well a little girl crazy."

"And you're not in love with Katie, you're in love with Nora and if you want her back you're gonna need to take the first step and apologize."

The room got quiet. It stayed quiet for about a minute until George said something. "They're right." Everyone turned to look at George "I don't like being mayor, everyone complains too much! And Nora…"

Nora looked up at George "What?"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry truly and deeply. I never stopped loving you and I don't think I ever will."

Nora smiled she knew this time George was sincere and wanted another chance. "Ok Mr. Mayor, I think I could give you one more chance." George smiled a big real smile and kissed Nora.

Marti walked up to her dad and smiled "Dad?"

George stopped kissing Nora and turned to Marti. "Oh Marti" he hugged her. "I'm sorry I've been such a bad dad."

"Yeah" said Marti. George laughed and hugged her tighter, "We're going to get you help."

Marti began to cry then replied "Finally, you can see me."

Casey and Derek smiled and looked across the room where they saw Emily who was in fact smiling at everything that had happened.

"We better go." said Derek. Casey nodded and they walked outside.

"We did it!" said Casey we fixed everything.

"Then why are we still here?" asked Derek sitting down on the bench.

Casey realized he was right, they were still there. "Oh my god, your right."

"Well, we tried." Derek had given up, he knew it was impossible and they were never going back.

Casey sat down beside him and knew they were gonna be stuck there for a long time. They both sat quietly until Derek said something.

"I'm sorry I didn't just let you put the lights up."

"I'm sorry I just climbed up there and pulled you down with me." said Casey

"Guess it's both our fault we're stuck here."

"Yeah" Casey hung her head in sadness.

"But if it's any consolation I'm glad I got stuck here with you."

Casey was dismayed at what he said "Really?"

"Yeah, I don't think I could've come this far without you."

Casey smiled and decided she better say something. "Derek?"

"Yeah?"

"Since we're gonna be stuck here forever it seems, there's something I've been wanting to do all night." then she grabbed the back of Derek's head and pulled him closer and kissed him.

Derek was shocked was also doing cartwheels inside. "Why did you-"

"I have no clue, all I know was dancing with you in there and spending the entire day with you I just wanted to thank you for helping-"

Casey tried to finish her sentence but Derek interrupted it with his lips pressing against hers.

"I just wanted to thank you too." said Derek smiling.

Casey smiled too "Anytime." she said.

They wanted to kiss again but they began to feel a sharp pain in their stomachs. Then they began to hear beeping and talking like they were in a hospital.

"Derek what's happening?" asked Casey holding her stomach.

"I don't know, just take my hand." Casey grabbed Derek's hand tightly and didn't let go. Then they saw a big flash of light which they thought was heaven coming to take them.

**_(Meanwhile): _**

Casey and Derek laid in there beds still not moving. Nora was getting more and more anxious every minute, so was George.

Suddenly Casey began to open her eyes slowly and Derek did too. "W, wh…" stammered Casey trying to get a sentence out.

"Oh my god George their awake!" yelled Nora with tears of joy in her eyes. "Oh we thought we lost you guys."

"What happened?" mumbled Derek in a low voice.

"You both fell off the roof. Don't you remember?" asked George

"George, let's let them wake up before asking any questions." said Nora.

"Right, I'll go get the doctor, Nora go get the kids and tell them Casey and Derek are alright."

"We'll be right back" said Nora leaving with George.

Casey and Derek were all alone in the room now. They turned to look at each other. "I had the weirdest dream." said Derek still speaking in monotone. "You were in it."

Casey spook in monotone too "That's funny; I think you were in my dream too."

"Well, if you were in my dream it must not have been a dream."

"What?" asked Casey.

"It was a nightmare." Derek began to chuckle a little.

"Derek!" Casey said still in a monotone.

Derek laughed and Casey laughed a little too.

They both lay there not knowing what had happened to them when they were asleep. They didn't remember their trip to another world or emo Emily, drunken Marti, and mayor George. All they knew was that they were in a hospital because of stupid Christmas lights.


	10. Chapter 10

**I've gotten a ton of comments concerning the ending of my fanfic. I actually wasn't going to write a sequel but since so many people have been mailing me and begging for me to continue with a sequel then I suppose I will. One of the reasons I enjoy writing is to make you (the fans) happy and if a sequel is what you want then a sequel is what you'll get. But I'm going to need suggestions as to how Derek and Casey will remember what happened. So mail me with some ideas and I'll get the fanfic going. Luv ya! mwah GuitarGurl**


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